Please share a description of your research.

The main idea behind the paper was to look at the way that you come into existence when you are witnessed by another person who is not a person. In the case of Frankenstein, the creature or the monster isn't necessarily totally human. He's made up of animals, dead people, murderers, criminals and who knows what else. So, the main essence was: how does Victor, the person who feels quite a sense of self-consciousness, of shame, come into existence when witnessed by the non-human other? What does it look like when you realize that the non-human other has a subject perspective? My paper explores how each distinct subjectivity of the creature’s disrupts and dislocates the scientist’s sense of self. It’s about being witnessed by something that takes you outside of yourself and pushes your perspective on what the human can look like or become. Ultimately, I wanted to examine how the scientist is also the one who is dismembered and recreated in Shelley’s novel.

Why did you decide to pursue English as a major?

Ever since I was little, it was always just books everywhere and I just loved reading. I thought maybe I wouldn’t pursue this path because everyone said it wasn’t practical, but I took my first-year English course at Western and I knew it was English all the way.

What are you doing now that you’ve graduated?

Right now, I am working full time, and I'm in the process of applying to master's programs, also for English. So hopefully, a year from now, I’ll have started my master’s degree.

Why do you think research and degrees in arts and humanities are valuable?

The whole degree teaches you how to think critically, new ways of looking at things, and how to get a broader perspective on all areas of life. During my English degree at Western, I was able to explore so much and from all disciplines, including history and science. For example, there was a whole course on physics and literature, which was incredible. It just opens your eyes to everything, really. It’s the study of humans, in so many ways.

Why do you think programs like the Global Undergraduate Awards are important?

There's literally nowhere to submit undergraduate work. A lot of the published journals, at least in the case of English, they require you to be a graduate student. And so, I think a lot of the research of undergraduate students go unappreciated and unnoticed, or there's this idea that because you don’t have your degree yet, you don’t have anything to contribute. This program can help you build up the foundation to go into potentially bigger and better research. I also think the interdisciplinary element of the Global Summit is amazing because it introduces people from different areas and mixes the disciplines, which benefits everyone.